5 for 15: David Higgins, WatchGuard Technologies A/NZ country manager

Businesses of all shapes and sizes are going to need better access to effective security services at the right prices. Small and medium businesses provide services to larger corporations and they need enterprise grade protection to ensure that they are not the vector by which their larger customers are infected. Providing the right network security advice and services to customers by delivering an optimum level of protection and performance for the right price and value will be key for the channel in 2015.

2. Key technology for 2015

Systems that can securely process and manage the increasing volume of encrypted web traffic will be absolutely essential in 2015. Networks are going to slow down and older firewalls are going to need to turn off critical functionality to maintain performance leaving them with reduced or compromised protection.

3. Key message to the channel for 2015

Take a good look at how our well-configured products are performing for our customers. We’re setting an example with our new devices in managing and processing the demands placed on networks by the continued increase and inevitable of explosion of encrypted traffic.

4. Key warning to the channel for 2015

We’re going to see a lot more malware attacks and breaches exposed in the mainstream media. Don’t be reactive after falling victim to a breach, be proactive and keep your customer’s reputation and business relationships safe by ensuring you are providing enterprise class security to your customers.

The key for WatchGuard is delivering on a long-term plan of customer satisfaction and strengthening partner relationships. A key element of this is the WatchGuardONE program which contains a strong focus on training and certification to allow for a higher standard in product and service configurations and increased customer satisfaction.

With a higher standard of training and certification behind our partners, delivering excellence through product/service configuration, installations and operation will result in better customer experiences and longer-term, satisfie­­­d users.

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Slideshows

​Inside the new HP Customer Welcome Centre in Sydney…

HP unveiled its new Customer Welcome Centre (CWC) in Sydney this week, following on more than a year after the vendor opened the doors of its Experience Centre in Melbourne (MEC). The new space offers on-site HP technicians and visiting channel partners the ability to reconfigure equipment and put together tailored solutions based on the needs of individual end clients or target vertical markets. The centre can also be booked by customers and partners for meetings, events, workshops, seminars, and training. Photos by HP.

Zscaler Australia toasts the channel at Xmas drinks

Zscaler recently hosted its partner update and Christmas drinks event in Australia where more than 20 partners attended the event at the QT hotel in the Sydney. The event provided a forum for the company to update its Australian partners on the company's strategy for cloud security in the year ahead. It was also a great opportunity for the company to introduce Sean Kopelke as country manager for A/NZ. The event ended with Christmas drinks and a celebration of momentum gained in 2016.

IN PICTURES: ​Nutanix X Tours

Nutanix recently held two ‘X Tours’, which brought the company’s flagship event .NEXT to Brisbane and Melbourne. Customers and partners got a firsthand look at the new era of IT and exposure to the potential of the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud platform. Both events featured key speakers both from Nutanix and its partners.

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